Talking heads on all the news channels keep telling us that the economy is getting better and that the recession will soon be over. I don’t know that I believe that, but I hope it is true. I have been fortunate to keep working and have the money to pay my bills. I know a lot of people have not been this lucky.
The Credit People is a company available to help who have struggled the past couple of years and want to get their finances back on the right track. Sometimes recovering from a big financial setback is more than what a person can deal with on their own.
Someone who was out of work for 5 or 6 month is most likely facing a pile of past due bills and possibly the threat of foreclosure. This person can make good use of a credit repair service to get the bills caught up and their credit history restored.
If you need to Repair Your Bad Credit, get help from the professionals. Your credit history is one of your most valuable financial assets and you need to protect it.
I saw a story on the TV last week that was addressing the issue of how important it is to have a mailbox that has your information on it that is easy to read, especially at night. It seems that there are a good amount of mailboxes that are preventing the police, ambulance and fire fighters from getting to where they need to be in an emergency situation. This could be a life or death situation that could be prevented if more people made sure that their mail boxes were set up with easily read information.
I know that in the city that I grew up in the city had the street addresses painted on the curbs to help with this type of issue, but I imagine that with all of the budget cut backs most places can’t afford to take on the cost of something like that. So it is up to the individual resident to make sure that they properly display the numbers, and for their own good.
I love being spontaneous. I do try and plan things out but sometimes things just happen and I have learned to roll with them as best as possible. I don’t mind getting a last minute call from someone and running out the door in order to get somewhere in the shortest time possible. I did grow up here so I know all of the roads like the back of my hand and I’m sure that I know each and every shortcut that is possible around my hometown and the cities that surround it as well, so I can get places pretty darn quick if needed.
I love going to sporting events, even though I’m not really active in very many. I do however enjoy playing a game of golf every now and then. My folks brought us up playing golf and I’m grateful for that. It is a nice easy going game that just about anyone can play and they have golf courses and tee times just about everywhere.
My folks just got back from their annual Myrtle Beach vacation last week. They wanted me to come but I couldn’t really take the time off of work and I all ready have a long weekend planned for the last part of September. My mom was telling me last night that they had a good time, the weather was a bit wacky but all in all it was a success. My dad found a website at www.48hourteetimes.com that they had to utilized during their stay in Myrtle Beach. They are a full service hospitality group that helps people with their accommodations and their 48 hour tee times. Since so many people are flocking to Myrtle Beach S.C. this year due to BP ruining so many of the other beaches on the east coast a lot of the hotels and golf courses have been slammed with customers that need some help finding their way around and finding what is available and for who.
I’m glad that my folks are computer literate. Many people their age are a bit timid when it comes to maneuvering around on the Internet, but they have mastered it quite well and use it to their best advantage when possible. And I’m glad that they are spontaneous, that must be where I got it from, a double dose of it, to be sure.
Tomorrow is the big day for most of us that have to file with the I.R.S. every year. I’m sure that a few of the post offices will be staying open a bit later tomorrow evening and that there will be long lines up until closing. Even with so many of us doing our taxes online the Post Office still makes a killing each year come April.
We all have things that we are interested in and find ourselves collecting pieces now and then, here and there. The flea market is a great place to find all types of treasures, from all over. The one flea market that is open only on Sunday has such a diverse flavor to it. People from all over the world go there and it is best described as being “Spicy” which is cool by me.
It’s a good place to find unique treasures that you wouldn’t necessarily find at most market places. Of course you can always go online and find most of the items but what fun is there in that. On a nice day it does a body good to get outside and spend the day walking and talking with people from a variety of places. I’m sure I could find some Himalayan Salt Lamps or a Native American War Bonnet online somewhere, it might take a little digging, but finding one at the market just gets the endorphins going and makes for a pleasant day all the way around.
Most of us are doing a good amount of our shopping online these days. There are good deals to be found for people that take just a bit of there time and do a bit of “Googling” and follow through with some good old fashioned research. With as many search engines and searching sites available to us with just a few short key strokes it feeds us the information that we are looking for. We truly are a society looking for instant gratification and we usually get just that with all of today’s technology that is bringing us more goodies to make things easier, more compact and faster every time we turn around.
I am need of a new pair of eyeglasses and have heard of Zenni Optical before, so I checked them out online last night for a few minutes. They have complete eyeglasses that start at only $8 a pair and they have a great variety of eye wear to choose from on their website. It didn’t take me long to place my order. I’ll pay $4.95 for shipping and will receive a hard case, a cleaning cloth and they will be UV protected with an anti-scratch coating on them as well. It sounds good to me and if I like what I get I’ll be ordering more and passing the good word around.
Last night while watching television before retiring for the night a commercial came on informing us that the real estate tax benefit has been extended, once again. That is good news for a lot of people that are looking and are now in the position to purchase a home. There are great deals on houses right now and sales are picking up more and more. I have a close friend who is a real estate agent who has been struggling due to the economy, like so many of us are. But she tells me that sales are picking up and that there seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel, which is awesome news, all the way around.
I’m told that qualified home buyers are being urged to act as soon as possible and to have a written binding contract by this April 30th and to be able to close by June 30th of this year of 2010. I found this video and thought I’d post it here for grins and giggles. And for more information I urge you to visit http://bit.ly/5D6mKg for all of the pertinent information concerning this extension. There are strict guidelines involved and this site gives a pretty good over view of all that you need to know.
I have everything ready to take to the local H & R Block office sometime this week. What a pain in the rear. So many pieces of paper to keep track of in order to get the best bang for my buck. I’m sure that it will all be worth the time and trouble and hopefully I’ll be getting a good sized check in the mail in a few months.
I find it interesting to see websites from other countries and I thank the Internet for providing us an insight to what is going on all across the globe. You never know where you are going to land when you start clicking online. Translating can be issue at times, but looking at sites from the U.K. and Australia are the best.
People in the U.K get hurt just as much as we do here in the states and they companies to assist them with their Compensation claims in order to get their just dues. If you get hurt, due to no fault of your own some one has to pay the bills no matter where you live, right?
Right now most people are busy gathering up all of their paper work that it takes to get our yearly income taxes prepared and sent off. I’m so thankful that my sister has taken care of my taxes for the last couple of years. The last time that I paid a company to do my taxes it cost me over $200, which threw me for a loop and really upset me. I know that there is a lot involved in preparing tax forms but good grief I don’t have $200 to throw around these days.
I have gotten pretty good at keeping good records and saving all kinds of paperwork and receipts in order to get the most bang for my buck come tax time. It’s a pain in the rear but a necessity. Each year they have so many changes to the whole tax scam, I can’t keep up with them all though I do try. I understand that the Real Estate Stimulus package for first time home buyers has been utilized by over 2 million people and it has been extended so that more people can utilize it. That is over $22 billion has already been added to the general economy resulting from the bill, that is a nice chunk of change!
I found the video on YouTube that addresses the extension and I thought that I would share it here.
My family has always invested in several different ways. In addition to stocks and bonds, they have always put some money aside in silver bullion and gold bullion. We’ve always felt that by spreading the money around a little bit we don’t run the risk of losing all of our money. Don’t get me wrong, we are not wealthy people by any means. We just try to have a nest egg in case we need it! And by putting some of our nest egg money in gold and silver, we think that is a good way to ensure that if and when we need money we can cash in whichever makes the most sense at the time!
I also think that gold coins are a good investment. Bullion is fine, but I also like the coins. My father got me started in investing in the precious metals on my 18th birthday by giving me a gold coin as one of my birthday gifts. And he gave each of our kids a gold coin on the day they were born, too. Naturally I keep all of those in a safe deposit box! Although pretty to look at, I don’t want to risk losing them!
With my wife’s hours at work being cut back, I’m going to have to help her figure out how to cut back on our expenses I told her that I’d start looking for a better auto insurance quote than the insurance we have now. I’ve been telling her for years that we could probably get lower rates, but she hasn’t wanted to do the leg work. So I’ll be taking that on myself.
There used to be a time when the credit card companies backed me up when I made a claim, disputing a payment. Well, those days sure seem to be over! There was a charge on my American Express card last May for $197 for a product that I did order. However I then subsequently cancelled that order and the merchandise was never received. I have proof that I contacted the company and cancelled the order, and I have an email from the company acknowledging the cancellation. Yet American Express keeps telling me that the charge is valid and that I have to pay it! So every month I have to reopen the claim. It is getting very tiring and I am thinking about cancelling that credit card! I have plenty of other credit cards that I can use – I don’t need the aggravation that goes along with this one!
When I was very young, I can remember learning about how the American monetary system was backed by gold that was stored in Fort Knox. I thought that was fascinating, and I was rather disappointed when the system stopped being backed by gold. I can remember I was still in school when it happened, and our teacher told us that the system was now based on “scrip.” That never made much sense to me!
As an adult, I purchase gold and silver when I get the chance. A friend of mine used to work for a company that dealt in stamps and coins, and he got me interested and started and taught me how to purchase gold coins and purchase gold bullion as a hedge against the fluctuations of the stock market. Sure, the prices of precious metals fluctuate, but the do have a history of increasing their value a lot more consistantly than the stock market! So I encourage my kids to purchase gold coin and purchase bullion as investment choices when they tell me that they are looking for ways to invest their money.
I guess I really shouldn’t be surprised how many commercials I see on television nowadays regarding the issues of credit repair. There are a lot of different companies out there that offer to help fix your credit. Some of these bad credit repair services, such as Ovation Credit service give the consumer the impression that repairing credit is easy. And it IS easy if the only thing wrong is mistakes on your credit report.
But if the issues are that you have poor credit because you haven’t been paying your bills, then these services cannot help you at all. What you need to do in these cases is to make arrangements with your creditors to get your bills paid! And that may not be easy if you have lost your income due to some unforeseen situation. Job loss, sudden health issues, and accidents can all contribute to troubles that will have a negative impact on credit ratings.
I can remember when I was a kid my parents gave me a couple of dollars here and there for doing some kind of extra chore. I was jealous of the kids that got paid allowances! For me, money was hard earned and I was very upset when I discovered that one of my siblings had raided my little piggy bank and taken all of my money! The little thief took off with my money and ran off to the neighborhood market and spent all of my money on gum, candy, and comic books! And my parents did nothing about it.
I never got my money back, and the thief was never punished in any way at all. For reasons such as this, and to avoid losing cash due to other unforeseen causes, I suggest that parents dole out their money to their kids in the form of a prepaid visa mastercard. Using cards like this instead of cash makes the money more secure and helps kids to learn how to budget their money! And of course, it makes them feel “cool” by having a card to use like a credit card – like the “grownups” do!
Mygrand-father had a lot of interest in investing in the precious metals. I can remember when I was younger he would take me to see his gold coins that he kept in a safe deposit box at the bank. He didn’t own a lot of them, but he sure was proud of the couple that he had! He would tell me that they were set aside for hard times. When he passed away my father got them. I wonder whatever happened to them!
I’ve become interested recently in learning about how to put gold in an IRA or a 401K account. To be honest I don’t know the difference between a gold IRA and a gold 401k account. My wife told me that there is a website called goldcoinsgain.com that has a lot of information about IRA gold. She said that it explains which kinds of gold can be put into accounts, and it explains how to put gold in my IRA. So I guess I’ll be spending some time reading that site!
I understand that envy is one of the big “sins.” I also understand that we are ALL “sinners!” At least that is what the marquee in front of the local churches claim!
Well, in this economy, it is hard not to envy the people that can afford any kind of luxury, isn’t it? Many people are not even able to afford the luxury of going away somewhere on vacation, and are using their vacation time from work as “staycations” and stay at home and try to entertain themselves locally.
For those lucky folks that can afford a luxury vacation, but want to save some money by reducing their travel time and cost, an Oceanfront Myrtle Beach Hotel just might be the answer to their vacation requirements. By staying in one of the many Oceanfront Myrtle Beach Hotels you can still have your luxury vacation away from home. There are a lot of fun attractions to keep a vacationer that is staying in a Myrtle Beach Hotel busy and happy. There are shows, amusement parks, golf courses, and of course the lure of the ocean.
All within a day’s drive of many east coast cities and towns. A great way to have a great vacation without spending too much money.
For those of us who are not interested in investing in precious metals, or the stock market, there are some decent options close to home. You can invest in CDs or simply open a savings account, or an interest-bearing checking account. CD rates being offered by banks change frequently – sometimes it seems to me that the bank CD rates have changed from one day to the next, but to be perfectly honest I don’t check the rates every single day. I’ve just noticed when I do go into my bank that they have posted the best CD rates on a board for the customers to look at.
I’m sure that bank rates differ from one institution to another, so it is a great idea to compare bank CDs online. One website that offers these comparisons is the selectcdrates.com website. Along with offering quotes on rates from various states, the website also has a link to a tips section that has a lot of good advice on handling financial matters.
I’ve been trying to mentor some young people on job-hunting. I see how earnest they are, wanting to find work, and I try to help them out as much as I can. Whenever I hear of a job opening somewhere, I fill them in. I know that a lot of jobs are landed through social networking, and many jobs are not even advertised in any form. These folks have been looking for years, and are not on unemployment. It’s a miracle that they have not turned to crime.
I give them pep talks and help them work on their resume, and tell them I have confidence in them. It is so sad to see how hard they are working trying to find a job and they get turned away time and time again. It is very sad to see – they are disillusioned and discouraged. One of the things that upsets me is that these discouraged and disillusioned job-seekers are not even counted as part of the “unemployment figures” that the government releases. So when the government says that the economy is looking up because unemployment is down, that is just a lie. Very sad.
Computers and/or Internet, Education and Personal Growth, Money and finances | Dean | 
September 2, 2010 9:58 pm | 
Comments (0) 
Subscribe